Crocodiles demonstrate throwing moves to defeat their prey, while black mamba snakes try to escape the control of their enemies.
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Africa’s deadliest snake is powerless before the crocodile’s power (Video: Lastest Sightings).
The video clip shared by Giosuè Spinosa, a tourist on a visit to the Shingwedzi River, north of the Kruger National Reserve, recorded a rare encounter between a black mamba and a crocodile.
According to Spinosa’s account, he observed the snake moving along a patch of dry sand, approaching the water’s edge. Its very fast movement made him think that the snake was not just coming to the water’s edge to quench its thirst, but was perhaps looking for a way to cross the river.
This action is considered extremely reckless, because the Shingwedzi River is a favorite habitat for crocodiles and hippos. These are all ferocious animals, and are superior in size to mamba snakes.
As expected, a crocodile immediately detected the presence of the “intruder” and approached.
It seemed like he was facing “death’s door”, but the black mamba snake, with its outstanding speed, quickly turned the waves and avoided the crocodile’s attack.
However, the snake unfortunately chose the wrong way out of the river, plunging into an area with a lot of clay and mud.
This decision slowed it down as it tried to navigate the thick mud at the water’s edge.
Another crocodile seized the opportunity, rushed to grab the snake with a quick bite, and at the same time showed off its tossing moves, causing the prey to quickly be defeated.
The commotion immediately attracted the attention of a fish eagle perched on the riverbank. However, the eagle made a wise decision, which was to leave without competing for the crocodile’s meal.
The crocodile’s superior strength makes it defeat all the mamba snake’s efforts to resist (Photo from clip).
The black mamba is known for its highly toxic venom, which can paralyze prey as large as an adult in less than 45 minutes. This is also the reason why this snake is known as the “death of Africa”.
However, the unlucky thing for the mamba snake in the above situation is that its opponent has the ability to resist bites extremely effectively thanks to its very thick skin and protective scales.
In a study published in Nature Magazine, a group of international wildlife conservationists warned about the worrying situation in their work.
Accordingly, up to 1/5 of reptile species, including crocodiles and snakes, are being abandoned by animal conservation programs to the point of being threatened with extinction.
The reason is because too few people care about these reptiles, because they are both ugly and often bite people, so they do not receive public sympathy.
As a result, more than 1,800 of them have fallen into the list of threatened extinction, 31 species have disappeared forever.
Scientists suspect there are species of snakes and crocodiles that went extinct before being known to humans.
